I. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to flashing. More particularly, the present invention relates to flashing and a method for forming the same. Even more particularly, the present invention relates to a method for forming flashing for adaptation to freeze boards.
II. Description of the Prior Art
Flashing is a building material that is employed to prevent water seepage into a home or other building. Metallic flashing is sold in rolls or sheets of sheet metal thin enough to allow a builder to cut, form and modify sections of the flashing for different applications. Generally, a builder will take the roll of sheet metal and cut it to a desired length. At that point, the cut length is formed to a required angle by pounding the sheet metal against the corner of a board, or it is manually bent.
For example, a builder is generally required to manually bend flashing around each window casing. To accomplish this task, flashing is cut to the desired length, then formed by placing the flashing up against the casing, and hit with a hammer until the flashing takes the form of the casing or board. This process is often slow and labor intensive. Moreover, manually forming an angle, in even moderate lengths of flashing, seldom provides a uniform angle across the entire length.
Some companies, acknowledging the fact that forming flashing at a building or remodeling site is very time consuming, pre-form specialized flashing pieces at a factory or shop. Most pre-formed flashing is formed by a method of pressing or stamping. An apparatus and method for pre-forming flashing for roof vent pipes is illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 3,895,467 (1975, C. Clement). The flashing is formed by pressing a role of sheet metal with a male die against a female die thereby taking on the shape of the dies. Additionally, each die set will make one flashing piece at a time. This device will work well in an assembly line set up, creating numerous pieces by feeding the roll through the set of dies. Unfortunately, stamping out pieces is only economical in a manufacturer setting. The apparatus is too big to move around from site to site the way a builder moves.
What is needed is a device that is inexpensive to manufacture, and small enough to be able to be moved from site to site. What is also needed is a device that is compact and that it is easily stored and set up. In addition, the device should be capable of forming angles along an entire roll of flashing, to an entire length of pre-cut flashing or to portions of a roll or cut piece of flashing. What is further needed is a device to form multiple angles in flashing, including a Z-shaped angle. Z-shape angles in flashing are commonly used on the top of window and door casings and comprise a flashing member having two substantially perpendicular angles, with each of the three segments of the flashing having a variable length as appropriate for the task. Additionally, the device should be able to accommodate forming a variety of angles at different lengths and sizes of flashing.